Engine attachment for valve gear lubrication



' July 9, 1963 D. W. JOHNSON ENGINE ATTACHMENT FOR VALVE GEARLUBRICATION Filed June 20, 1961 INVENTOR. DONALD W Jzwmswr WM 5amPatented July 9, 1963 3,096,851 ENGINE ATTACHMENT FOR VALVE GEARLUBRICATION Donald W. Johnson, Minneapolis, Minn, assignor to Thext'onManufacturing Company, Minneapolis, Minn,

a corporation of Minnesota Filed June 20, 1961, Ser. No. 118,449

' 2 Claims. (Cl. 184-6) This invention relates to an attachment forautomotive vehicles and more particularly relates to an attachment for aV-8 engine of such a vehicle.

In most V-8 engines for automobiles, a problem exists in properlylubricating the rocker arms. The rocker arm mounting shaft of the engineis actually a tube with apertures at the several rocker arms to allowoil to flow from the interior of the shaft to the rocker arm bearings.Ordinarily oil is supplied through an internal passage in the engineblock, but it frequently occurs that this oil passage will becomeclogged to the extent that insuflicient oil is supplied for lubricatingthe rocker arms. To clean the clogged passages involves a major engineoverhaul job and requires removal of the cylinder head-s.

An object of my invention is to provide a new and improved apparatus ofsimple and inexpensive construction and operation for properlylubricating the rocker arms of an engine.

Another object of my invention is the provision of a novel apparatus forsupplying oil into the rocker arm mounting shaft of an engine withoutmaterially modifying any of the existing components of the engine.

A further object of my invention is to provide an improved attaohmentfor V-8 automobile engines which may be quickly and easily applied withconventional tools and with a minimum of effort to properly supplylubrieating oil to the rocker arm mounting shaft and the rocker armbearings without necessitating removal or modification of any of themajor components of the engine.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will more fullyappear from the following description made in connection with theaccompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to thesame or similar parts throughout the several views, and in which:

'FIG. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic elevation view of the front end of anautomotive V8 engine with the present invention applied;

FIG. 2 is a detail elevation view showing the present invention appliedto the rocker arm shaft of the engine, with portions of the cylinderhead and rocker arm cover shown in section;

FIG. 3 is a detail section taken at 33 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a detail section taken at 44 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is -a enlarged detail elevation view of a portion of theapparatus seen in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is similar to FIG. 3 and showing a modified form of theinvention; and

FIG. 7'is a view similar to FIG. 3 and showing still anotherform of theinvention.

The automotive V-8 engine is shown in FIG. 1 and indicated in general bynumeral 10 and has an engine block 11 which is provided with a port at12, at which oil under pressure is available. Actually, the port 12 isused in most instances for connecting the oil pressure gauge on thedashboard of the vehicle so that the operator of the engine will beapprised of the oil pressure. As seen in FIG. 2, the cylinder head 13 ofthe engine (which is normally disposed at an inclined angle as depictedin FIG. 1) has a stationary rocker arm mounting shaft 14 affixed theretoin spaced relation thereabove by a plurality of mounting blocks 15, andthe rocker arm mounting shaft, as best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4 is actuallyof hollow and tubular construction defining an open interior chamber:16. The shaft 14 carries a plurality of rocker arms 17 operating in aconventional way to cause operation of the valves of the engine. Theshaft 14 has a plurality of apertures 18 therein at each of the rockerarm-s 17 and permitting flow of lubrication oil from the hollow interiorof the shaft 14 to the bearing surfaces between the rocker arms 17 andthe shaft 14. When oil is under slight pressure on the hollow interiorof the shaft '14, the rocker arms are well lubricated. The shaft 14 isalso connected to an overflow pipe 19 which is mounted on one of themounting blocks 15 and in communicating relation with the hollowinterior of the shaft 14 so as to permit at least limited oil flowthrough the shaft 14, and the oil will spill downwardly from the end 19aof the overflow pipe 19 onto the inclined upper surface of the cylinderhead, whereupon this oil which has overflowed will run downwardly to thelower transverse side 13a of the cylinder head to a return port 20 whichcarries the oil which overflows from pipe 19 back to the crank case 9fthe engine. The dot-dash line L seen in FIG. 2 shows the possiblesurface level of a pool of oil collected on the cylinder head if thepool of oil were not allowed to return to the crank case. It will beunderstood that the upper surface of the cylinder head is inclined.Normally the oil will drain immediately through the return port 20 tothe crank case.

The rocker arms are operated by a reciprocating rod 21 and causereciprocation of the valve-operating rods 22.

All of the structure hereinbefore described is standard equipment on atypical V-8 automotive engine and in addition the rocker arm mountingshaft 14 normally has a soft plug at the end 14a of the shaft. This softplug is actually no more than a piece of soft iron sheet metal driveninto the end of the shaft 14 under pressure and fitting the shaft in africtional oil sealing relation. The soft plug is normally held in theend of the shaft by a cotter key behind and through the alignedapertures 14b in the end of the shaft.

The present attachment to the V8 engine comprises an elongate rigid tube25 which has a supply end portion 26 connected with a suitable fitting27 and attached thereby to the port 12 at which the supply of oil underpressure from the engine is available. Tube 25 is divided into a pair ofbranches 28 and 29 adjacent the upper portion of the engine by means ofa T fitting 30. The T fitting 30 is of substantially conventionaldesign, but also includes a disc 31 seated in a press fit againstshoulder 32 in the T connector 30 and the disc 31 also has aflow-restricting orifice 33 therein for reducing the pressure betweenthe supply end of the tube and the discharge ends 34 of the branches 28and 29. It will be noted that the branches 28 and 29 of the tube aresimilar in nature to each otherand each of the tubes has a linear, andslightly flattened cylinder head-engaging portion 35 adjacent thedischarge end 34 and lying flush against the upper surface of thecylinder head 13 at the upper transverse side 13b thereof beneath thedownwardly facing rim portion 36 of the cover 37 which confronts thecylinder head 13. The gasket 39 is deformed around the linear portion 35of the tubing.

It is to be particularly noted that the linear portion 35 of the tubingpasses beneath the rim 36 of the cover adjacent the upper transverseside 1311 of the cylinder head so as to be in widely spaced relation andabove the oil return port 20 which is disposed at the lower transverseside of the cylinder head. Although the gasket 39 can be deformed aroundthe portion 35 of the tubing to a reasonable degree, there is noparticular need for an extremely tight sealing fit at the tube portion35 because the oil which is spilled out of the tube 19 vw'll flo-wdownwardly toward the lower transverse side 13a of the cylinder head andto the return port 20. It is to be particularly noted that the tubing isreadily and easily applied to the engine and laid in the proper positionwith respect to the "cylinder head and with respect to the shaft 14without necessitating any modification of any of the major components ofthe engine.

The discharge .end 34 of each branch of the tubing is soldered or brazedinto an opening 40 in a plug 41, the peripheral portion 42 of which issmooth and very slightly tapered so that the plug 41 fits tightly inoil-sealing and frictional relation within the open end 14a of therocker arm mounting shaft 14. The plug 41 has an aperture 43 thereinwhich will align with the'apertures 14b in the shaft 14 so that a cotterpin 44 may be inserted through the aligned apertures of the shaft andplug to hold the plug in the proper position so that it will notv-i'brate out of place.

The plug 41 has an internal oil passage 45, the inner end of whichcommunicates with the hollow interior 16 of the shaft 14 and the outerend of which communicates with the opening 40 in the plug and with theinterior of the tubing. The branches 28 and 29 of the tubing arepreshaped to the proper angular relationship so that the linear portion35 will lie flush against the cylinder head when the plug 41 is placedin the end of the shaft 14. It should be recognized, as compared toremoving of the cylinder heads from the block of the engine and cleaningout the ports which normally supply oil to the interior of the mountingshaft 14, the application of the present attachment to the engine is anextremely simple operation. The fitting 27 is applied to the port 12 andthe tubing 25 is attached thereto. The branches 28 and 29 of the tubingare laid on their respective cylinder heads and the plugs 41 are merelytapped into the smooth surfaced hollow interior of the rocker armmounting shafts 14. The T-connection 30 is then connected in and thecover 37 and gasket 39 will be replaced after the tubing is properlypositioned. The gasket 39 may be easily deformed to the necessary degreeand no modifications need be made to any of the major components of theengine 10. When the engine is started, oil is supplied upwardly throughthe tubing 25 at approximately 40 p.s.i., which is typical of oilpressures in a V8 engine. At the orifice 33, the flow of the oil isrestricted and the pressure is thereby reduced so that the oil pressureactually applied at the hollow interior 16 of the mounting shaft 14 issimilar to that for which the engine is designed. A limited amount ofoil is spilled through the pipe 19 and returns through the port 20. Oilis supplied through the apertures 18 and the shaft 14 for the rocker armbearing surfaces.

In the form of the invention shown in FIG. 6, the construction issubstantially identical to that shown in FIGS. l-5 with the exceptionthat the plug 41' to which is connected one of the branches, such as 28,has an annular groove 50 around the shank portion thereof and aresilient O-ring gasket 51 is placed in the groove 50 to seal againstthe interior of the shaft 14. The cotter key 44' again holds the plug41' in the shaft 14. The external periphery 42' of the plug 41' iscylindrical and without a taper in this form of the invention.

In the form of the invention shown in FIG. 7, the plug 41 is similar inconstruction to the plug 41 with the exception that the externalperiphery 42" thereof is slightly smaller than the internal periphery ofthe shaft 14". In this form of the invention, a cup-like sealing element52 which may be constructed of soft iron (and is similar in constructionto the soft plug previously mentioned as original equipment to plug theend of the shaft 14) is applied over the inner end of the plug 41" so asto seal against the internal periphery of the shaft 14". Again, in thisform of the invention, a cotter pin 44" is employed to hold the plug 41"in proper position. The sealing element 52 engages the inner peripheryof the shaft in oil-sealing and frictional relation. In installation andoperation, the forms of the invention shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 aresubstantially identical to the form of the invention shown in FIGS. l-5.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made inthe form, detail, arrangement and proportion of the parts withoutdeparting from the scope of my invention which consists of the matterdescribed herein and set forth in the appended claims.

What I. claim is:

1. In combination with an automotive V-8 engine having an engine blockwith a pair of transversely inclined cylinder heads thereon, each of theheads including a flat sloping upper surface having a lower transversepor- 'tion with an oil return port-therein, and also having an uppertransverse portion, a stationary hollow rocker arm mounting shaftaflixed to the flat sloping surface .of each head, a plurality of rockerarms on the shaft, the shaft having means for applying oil from theinterior thereof .to the exterior thereof for lubricating said rockerarms,

oil under pressure, an attachment connected'to said engine comprising anelongated tube means disposed at the exterior of said block and head andhaving a supply end,

.said tube means being branched to provide a pair of discharge ends,means connecting said supply end of said tube means with said oil supplyport in the engine block, a pair of fluid connectors each applied ontothe end of vthe hollow interior of a respective shaft, and in tightfitting frictional relation with said shaft, each of said connectorshaving an oil passage therein, each passage having an inner endcommunicating with the hollow interior of the shaft and also having anouter end, each of the discharge ends of the tube means being afiixed inthe outer end of the passage in a respective connector, each of saiddischarge ends of each tube means passing over the upper transverseportion of one of the respective flat sloping surfaces of one of saidcylinder heads and extending under said gasket and an edge portion ofsaid cover whereby to supply oil to the interior of said shaft forlubricatingthe rocker arms, each of said discharge ends being flattenedwhereby it extends under said cover so as not to separate the edge ofsaid cover from said flat sloping surface more than the thickness ofsaid gasket.

'2. The combination of claim 1, including a T-fitting having an inletend connected to said supply end of said tube means and a pair of outletends each connected to one of said discharge ends of said tube means,and said inlet end having a .disc, with a restricted orifice pressedtherein.

0 References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,684,955 Goodwin Sept. 18, 1928 1,806,537 Bower May 19, 1931 2,224,376Chayne et al. Dec. 10, 1940 2,881,863 Fulton Apr. 14, 1959 3,008,544Krizman Nov. 14, 1961 3,022,862 Moye Feb. 27, 1962

1. IN COMBINATION WITH AN AUTOMOTIVE V-8 ENGINE HAVING AN ENGINE BLOCKWITH A PAIR OF TRANSVERSELY INCLINED CYLINDER HEADS THEREON, EACH OF THEHEADS INCLUDING A FLAT SLOPING UPPER SURFACE HAVING A LOWER TRANSVERSEPORTION WITH AN OIL RETURN PORT THEREIN, AND ALSO HAVING AN UPPERTRANSVERSE PORTION, A STATIONARY HOLLOW ROCKER ARM MOUNTING SHAFTAFFIXED TO THE FLAT SLOPING SURFACE OF EACH HEAD, A PLURALITY OF ROCKERARMS ON THE SHAFT, THE SHAFT HAVING MEANS FOR APPLYING OIL FROM THEINTERIOR THEREOF TO THE EXTERIOR THEREOF FOR LUBRICATING SAID ROCKERARMS, SAID SHAFT ALSO HAVING AN OIL OVERFLOW DISCHARGE MEANS CONNECTEDTHERETO SO AS TO SPILL OIL FROM THE INTERIOR OF THE SHAFT ONTO THESLOPING SURFACE FROM WHICH THE OIL FLOWS INTO SAID RETURN PORT, AND ACOVER SECURED TO EACH HEAD SO AS TO ENCLOSE THE SLOPING SURFACE THEREOF,THE ROCKER ARMS AND MOUNTING SHAFT, A GASKET BETWEEN EACH OF SAID COVERSAND ITS RESPECTIVE FLAT SLOPING SURFACE, SAID BLOCK ALSO HAVING AN OILSUPPLY PORT THEREIN FOR SUPPLYING OIL UNDER PRESSURE, AN ATTACHMENTCONNECTED TO SAID ENGINE COMPRISING AN ELONGATED TUBE MEANS DISPOSED ATTHE EXTERIOR OF SAID BLOCK AND HEAD AND HAVING A SUPPLY END, SAID TUBEMEANS BEING BRANCHED TO PROVIDE A PAIR OF DISCHARGE ENDS, MEANSCONNECTING SAID SUPPLY END OF SAID TUBE MEANS WITH SAID OIL SUPPLY PORTIN THE ENGINE BLOCK, A PAIR OF FLUID CONNECTORS EACH APPLIED ONTO THEEND OF THE HOLLOW INTERIOR OF A RESPECTIVE SHAFT, AND IN TIGHT FITTINGFRICTIONAL RELATION WITH SAID SHAFT, EACH OF SAID CONNECTORS HAVING ANOIL PASSAGE THEREIN, EACH PASSAGE HAVING AN INNER END COMMUNICATING WITHTHE HOLLOW INTERIOR OF THE SHAFT AND ALSO HAVING AN OUTER END, EACH OFTHE DISCHARGE ENDS OF THE TUBE MEANS BEING AFFIXED IN THE OUTER END OFTHE PASSAGE IN A RESPECTIVE CONNECTOR, EACH OF SAID DISCHARGE ENDS OFEACH TUBE MEANS PASSING OVER THE UPPER TRANSVERSE PORTION OF ONE OF THERESPECTIVE FLAT SLOPING SURFACES OF ONE OF SAID CYLINDER HEADS ANDEXTENDING UNDER SAID GASKET AND AN EDGE PORTION OF SAID COVER WHEREBY TOSUPPLY OIL TO THE INTERIOR OF SAID SHAFT FOR LUBRICATING THE ROCKERARMS, EACH OF SAID DISCHARGE ENDS BEING FLATTENED WHEREBY IT EXTENDSUNDER SAID COVER SO AS NOT TO SEPARATE THE EDGE OF SAID COVER FROM SAIDFLAT SLOPING SURFACE MORE THAN THE THICKNESS OF SAID GASKET.